You Were There
by MaliceIncorporated
Summary: You were there in the Beginning, among the first. You were there when everything happened, and when everything ended.


You were there with them from the beginning. No one really knew who came first, or why - only that your father, everyone's father, God, had brought everyone to be. Your brothers and sisters were close of course, but none as close as the chosen brothers, the favourites of your Father. There was never a time that they were separated for long; Michael and Lucifer and sometimes Gabriel goofing off under Raphael and Uriel's watchful gazes.

Of course as time went on, everyone got a little more busy. The vast world below was changing, and it was the most excitement you had ever seen. Land masses with mountains that threatened, and in some cases succeeded, to reach the clouds; deep valleys that filled up with rainwater and melt from the snow that accumulated on the mountains spread between them. Forests as far as the eye could see, and sandy deserts that swallowed everything that dared traverse them.

Animals, too. You had loved watching them the most, while most of your siblings had just seen them as curious things your Father had placed for entertainment value. They didn't have souls, but sometimes it felt like they almost did. Birds and beasts fought for territory on the land, but your attention was stolen by the grand oceans. Things were simultaneously simple and complicated in ever-flowing water, and you loved every single one of them.

When your Father created Man, there was an uproar among your comrades. Shock even. These naked animals that learned quickly to robe themselves, and home themselves, and communicate - they had souls, and they were the most complicated, most beautiful and most fearful thing your Father ever created. The humans built homes and villages and civilization, and destroyed the previous treasures that had laid before them. They conquered and they ruled and they flourished faster than any of you had expected.

Man didn't just cause problems in their own realm, they caused problems in yours as well. You watched with your brothers and sisters, as the favourited brothers began to bicker and grow apart. For the first time you saw Michael and Lucifer disagree and fight, and with their combined rage came the most frightful storm you had ever witnessed. However their fighting afflicted the Earth and its inhabitants, it had a continuing worse effect at home.

Raphael and Uriel fought because of Michael and Lucifer fighting; one was too forgiving and the other too harsh. You thought often of poor Gabriel caught in the middle of the quarrels, desperate to console both sides and mend the cracks that were forming. Naturally there was nothing you could do; you were not important, and you doubted that they even knew your name. Regardless you watched and you worried for what would become of home if something broke that was unable to be repaired. It would be horrible.

You were there when the unthinkable happened. Lucifer grew too jealous of the humans that had captured so much more of Father's love. Or at least, that's what you heard. There were many rumours surrounding the event, and you had never been close with those directly involved. They were too big, too important for a low-class angel like you. Lucifer was jealous, and he allowed that jealousy to fill his heart and corrupt him. You were there when Gabriel went on his knees and begged, begged for his brothers to cease their fighting and pray and worship our Father like they had done so long ago. You saw Lucifer strike Gabriel when he lunged at Michael, and the resounding wave of wrath and sorrow that was reflected in the eyes and faces of Raphael and Uriel who rushed to his side.

All it took was that one strike to split your world apart.

Heaven was torn in half like Gabriel's lip, and like it, the scars of battle would never fully heal.

You wished you had paid more attention to the talking, and the rumours that went around your head. You wished you had pulled yourself away from your fascination with the aquatic creatures of the Earth enough to realize what was going on around you. Your brothers and sisters were at arms with each other, and there was bloodshed and fear like you had only ever witnessed in humanity. Horrors that you could never have begun to imagine were becoming reality around you and there was nowhere to hide.

Even a prayer to your Father was unanswered, muted by the screams of your comrades around you. There was no time, nowhere to go to seek help. No one to give help.

Michael's sword shone in the purest of blues, glowing from the fire within it, and you watched it slice into the clouds below him.

"LUCIFER," you could never forget the anger and the sorrow in his voice that day, or that he spoke with the voice of 10,000 Angels, "MY BROTHER, YOU HAVE FORSAKEN OUR FATHER AND YOU HAVE FORSAKEN HEAVEN. YOU WHO RAISED AN ARMY AGAINST US, WHO LIED TO US, AND CAUSED STRIFE. I BANISH YOU NOW, FOREVER TO LIVE AMONGST THE DIRT AND BEASTS OF EARTH, NEVER AGAIN TO SEE THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN NOR FEEL THE LOVE OF OUR FATHER."

The favourite of your Father, at Michael's words, fell from Heaven - as well as all those who had chosen to follow him. You watched as so many of your siblings, hundreds and thousands of your close brothers and sisters, were wrenched from their homes and cast down to Earth.

Their screams were a mixture of fear and pain as their wings burned up, cementing the fact that they would never return to Heaven.

Your Father was very quiet after that, only speaking to a select few. The scars of battle would never heal, and not even you were left unscathed. Although the majority had rejected Lucifer and his rebellious ideas, Heaven was still hauntingly empty in the days following the Fall. The injured needed to be taken care of, with Raphael leading the medic Angels, and everyone else was to clean and repair.

Earth was a long way down; you stole a peek or three while you toiled alongside your remaining brothers. You wondered how much it hurt.

Michael tried harder than ever to be liked. He smiled wider, laughed louder. When he thought no one was watching him, you thought he looked riddled with guilt. Every time you tried to approach him though, he was too busy. Of course, he was an Archangel, and he was God's right hand; he was far too busy for you.

Gabriel you saw the most frequently. He was still God's Messenger, and devoted much of his time to carrying messages all around Heaven. You never even tried to approach him, because he was much too busy. That was okay. It was good that he was keeping himself busy, to distract himself from the past.

Raphael and Uriel you rarely saw. You knew that Raphael worked with the Medic Angels to heal the souls of humans when they were deemed worthy of Heaven, and Uriel was usually either with him or with Michael. Of all your siblings, you thought it was the most important for the Archangels to keep busy.

Time passed, as it always would - and wounds healed and scarred, and scars faded. The scar on Gabriel's lip would forever serve as a reminder of what happened, but everyone carried on with their tasks. God grew ever quieter as down below humanity progressed.

You learned that Lucifer had set up Hell as his own, as he hadn't been able to rule Heaven - and he often donned the name Satan. It became a new kind of battle, keeping humans from following Lucifer when they should be following your Father. Lucifer and his Demons would take whatever ground they could get, but you were confident that Heaven and God would win out at every turn.

As time went on, you found yourself growing more and more curious about Earth and humanity.

Mostly you wanted to feel the ocean on your feet, to hold a fish. It was the beauty of the oceans and the sea that won you over, and convinced you to do what you knew was wrong.

It was okay. You had been in Heaven a long time, but no one would notice.

Vessels were a funny kind of business. You had seen Michael and Gabriel use humans as vessels before. All you needed was a devout, worshipping human who would accept you into them, and then you just needed to put their soul on the backburner while you hitched a ride in their meat suit.

It was far more uncomfortable than you expected. You really couldn't imagine all of Michael's greatness or all of Uriel's Light compacted into the fragile flesh shell of a human.

The ocean was far greater than anything you could ever have imagined. The sand between your vessel's toes was a joy you never would have known.

The first fish you caught died. Animal life was surprisingly fragile. You prayed for it, even though beasts don't have souls, and you put it back in the water with the hope that it's loss of life could be used to feed the life force of something else. There was no use for needless deaths.

No one caught you when you returned to Heaven, and your vessel had not been damaged. None was the wiser, but you kept your secret to yourself. You feared a meeting with Raphael most of all, feared that he would look into you and see your secrets and Judge you.

You had to do it again, and again and again. The ocean and the current called to you, drew you to it more than anything else you had ever known. You would give up your siblings for the sweet soothing lull of the waves.

"My brother, what a surprise to see you down here."

You had not expected anyone, and so when you turned to see Lucifer standing in the flesh by the shore with you, it was almost enough to make you jump skinsack. He raised his hand in a non-threatening way, and you didn't.

Though you did ask why he wasn't busy.

"I would make time for all of my brothers and sisters, didn't you know? We are much closer down here. You are lonely, I can see it inside you, dearest of my kin."

You asked him why again. Why to everything. Mostly, why he came to see you.

He told you that knowing the desires of those around him, and helping them achieve it, has become one of his new goals as the King of Hell. He told you that he knew your desire was to swim in the ocean, but the water frightened you when you were up close to it.

He told you he could help you.

You asked him how.

"Sarenael, do you know why I am called Satan now, by the humans?"

Too shocked that Lucifer, the First Fallen, the once-beloved of God, knew your name - you had failed to watch him too closely. The enchanted knife slid between the ribs of your vessel like a comb through your hair, and you felt yourself gasp in pain.

"Satan, the Deceiver. The Liar. But I'll give you one truth, as you close your eyes forever my brother.

"I hate all of my siblings."


End file.
